Diane Arbus, the revolutionary photographer known for her haunting portraits of marginalized individuals, is being celebrated in the largest exhibition of her work to date. “Constellation” opens today at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, featuring more than 450 prints, many of which have never been published before. Curated by Matthieu Humery, the show arrives in the U.S. with its original immersive format intact.
Visitors feel as though they are wandering a labyrinth filled with uncanny strangers. Arbus specialized in capturing those pushed to the fringes of society—circus performers, drag queens, nudists, and the institutionalized. Yet, she also photographed celebrities with the same empathy and scrutiny.
Neil Selkirk, the only person authorized to print from Arbus’s negatives, reflected on how her work continues to move and illuminate. “She used the camera as what she called a ‘passport.’ You can’t go up to someone and say, ‘Hey, I want to come home with you and see how you live.’ But you could say, ‘I wanna take your picture,'” he said. In her 1966 Guggenheim award application, Arbus wrote, “I have learned to get past the door, from the outside to the inside.
Spotlighting Arbus’s broad human focus
One milieu leads to another… a certain group of young nihilists, a variety of menages, a retirement town in the Southwest, a new kind of Messiah, a particular Utopian cult who plan to establish themselves on a nearby island, Beauties of different ethnic groups, certain criminal types, a minority elite.”
Selkirk shared insights into Arbus’s process and consistency. “Sometimes, it would be someone that she would see on the street, and she’d just walk up to them and say, ‘I love your hat.
May I take your picture?'” he explained. Arbus’s careful engagement with her subjects resulted in powerful, intimate portraits. Arbus’s technique of close examination and lack of judgment emerged from the era of magazine photojournalism, which often sought to reveal the world’s harsh realities in hopes of sparking change.
However, her work transcended mere documentation—it was about understanding and depicting the myriad ways people existed and connected, without passing judgment. “Constellation” is not just a photographic exhibition but a deep dive into the psyche and artistry of one of the 20th century’s most compelling photographers. As visitors navigate through the retrospective, they are invited to not only observe but also partake in a shared, transformative experience.
The exhibition runs until August 17, providing ample opportunity to explore the hauntingly beautiful world through Diane Arbus’s lens.
